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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Riverdale S1 E3 Body Double



So this one started off with a bang. After last weeks cliffhanger- Cheryl being arrested for Jason's death- it turns out she wasn't really arrested but we get a better sense of what's happening. Cheryl tells the police chief that she didn't kill Jason, she helped him stage his death so he could run away. Why would Jason want to run away? And what happened to him if he died on July 11th- a week after his disappearance. Well that remains to be seen. 

I was kind of intrigued when I saw the title of this one- Body Double. The heart of this episode is the deepening friendship between Betty and Veronica, and we also get a glimpse of how dark Betty is willing to go. Definitely foreshadowing for down the road. This still remains just a little over the top- I mean Alice Cooper and her snark are just a bit much- but it works here as there is that feeling that underneath the surface there is something really dark at the heart of Riverdale. 

So what brings Betty and Veronica closer? Well Veronica has a date with Chuck who happens to be a player- and when her date with him gets exaggerated, we'll say, she's humiliated. So we're talking slut- shaming (even though she just made out with him) and guess what? The boys on the football team have themselves a little competition and a little book where they keep score. And Veronica is not happy.

After some other girls come forward (including Ethel, who happens to be Shannon Purser from Stranger Things) they decide to set the record straight. After breaking into school late at night to find the book they're met by Cheryl, who at first is skeptical (after all her brother Jason was on the team- surely he wouldn't countenance such behavior?) but when they find his name in the book next to Polly- well Cheryl realizes maybe there are some things about her brother she didn't know. And she's all in. Oh and she rocks the thigh high boots too. 

Speaking of Cheryl, I love her line when they ask her how she knew where they were. 

"Trev told Valerie, who told Josie, who told Ginger, who told Tina, who told me." 

Cheryl has all the best lines in this one. And here's where we see Betty go dark. Her and Veronica play a little game with Chuck and even Veronica is taken aback how far Betty is willing to go- again some pretty heavy foreshadowing for down the line? And perhaps a glimpse into what Polly was like- we haven't seen her. And Alice is her mom. 

"You want to go full dark, no stars, Veronica?"

Some other stuff happens too- we get forward momentum on Archie's music, the Pussycats do a little playing, and Jughead investigates the murder after joining Betty on the school paper. 

Let's talk about Alice a minute. Not only does she leak the autopsy results on Jason, she's still a bitch to Betty and she causes all kinds of trouble at the Riverdale gala. There's obviously no love lost between her and Penelope Blossom- I didn't see it coming when Penelope clocked her- but that didn't even slow her down as she then went after Hermione Lodge about Veronica. Man she's a one- woman wrecking crew. As I said above she's almost too over the top, but it works so far. 

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Random Thoughts

Anyone else weirded out when Betty called Chuck Jason and referred to herself as Polly? 

So Dilton Doiley saw Miss Grundy's car at the river? Did he see Archie too? 

Jughead's narration at the end reveals that Chuck gets booted from the team and that there are devastating consequences down the line from this. Ooh what's going to happen? 

6 comments:

  1. OMG, I'm super obsessed with this show so I'm glad to see that you're covering it. I'm garbage at recaps but I've been itching to talk about this show with someone. You're it!

    Dark Betty was...intereting. I was definitely weirded out when she called Chuck Jason and was acting like she was Polly. I'm curious to see where this goes, if we start to see more Dark Betty slipping out. Where the heck is Polly? Have we learned that yet? I don't remember.

    I want more Jughead and I'll be glued to my seat to find out how he handles Dilton's confession of seeing Grundy's car. I low key want to see Betty's reaction when she finds out about Archie and Grundy because as gross as that is to me (I hate teacher/student relationships), that's going to be some drama that I'm so here for! Ha.

    You're right that Cheryl gets all of the great lines. She makes me laugh with how bitchy but witty she is.

    I'm so looking forward to this week's episode! Thanks for the recap, Greg!

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    1. I love this show! You can talk about it any time! I know about Betty, I was like ??? Jughead I'm liking, he's sorta on the case in a quiet way, I think he'll have more to do as it progresses. Him and Betty are a good team?

      Cheryl is awesome in that bitchy way she kinda has! And I love her lines. :)

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    2. Oh man, did you catch this week's episode? Talk about drama. This show is shaping up to be everything that I love about campy drama shows. I'm so here for all of this madness.

      Jughead is the bomb. I love that he's a survivor and that he follows what he feels is right. I can already tell that he's a great character and is gong to be a favorite of mine.

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  2. Alice is absolutely horrible. There's something about her...every time she comes on screen my skin crawls. It's a miracle that Betty's even functional at all with a mother like that.

    The scene where Betty goes "full dark no stars" was intense! It seemed almost like she had a dissociative episode? She definitely thought that she *was* Polly and then didn't remember it. Or did she remember, and just want to remain in denial? Hmmm. I'm guessing we'll find out soon enough! :D

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    1. She is! I think she's gonna be awful. Remember that line she had in E2 about maybe the Blossoms are sacrificing to some pagan god? That cracked me up.

      I think you're right, I've seen others say dissociative too. She was going to "punish" him lol- I was like yeah! but at the same time freaked out?? I think she has some dark secrets. :)

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  3. I'm actually kind of surprised how much I'm enjoying this show! :) Really looking forward to where it goes.

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